


Chasing Lightning

by Rainah (RainahFiclets)



Series: The Lips the Teeth the Tip of the Tongue [3]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Aaron Burr: Totally Not Crushing On Alexander, Alexander Hamilton: Not so human disaster, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Canon Era, Crack and Angst, Eliza and Theodosia: Far far cooler than their husbands, F/M, John Laurens: not present but not dead because I can write whatever I want, M/M, Polyamory, extremely thin, thinly veiled metaphors for sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-10 16:48:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7853176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainahFiclets/pseuds/Rainah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Aaron shivered. “Yes.”</i>
</p><p>  <i>This is what he wanted. He hadn’t come to drink whiskey, or to ask questions. He’d come to chase lightning.</i></p><p>Aaron Burr thought he knew about wanting. That was until he got entangled with one Alexander Hamilton. Haunted by his attraction to a creature he is supposed to hunt, grappling with his wife's worsening illness, Aaron is quickly running out of time and options. (Making out with Alexander doesn't really count as an option).</p><p>Otherwise known as the third installment of the vampire au.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wanting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oaxara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oaxara/gifts).



> Fic is finished and will be posted a chapter a day.  
>   
> Makes an awful lot more sense if you've read [Aaron Burr: Vampire Hunter](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6356944). Nobody Needs To Know is a side story (though fun).  
>   
> Thank you, as always, to Oaxara who birthed this fic and nurtured it throughout it's troubled childhood as I got it out on the page. You're a star.

Aaron Burr thought he knew about wanting. He’d known it intimately from the time he was a child, and by now he thought he must know each and every flavour. It was there, always there, buzzing under his skin and coursing through his veins. Not allowing it to show didn’t mean he didn’t feel it.

Didn’t mean he didn’t see it every time he closed his eyes.

_A rejection letter from Princeton… we regret to inform you that you are too young to be admitted… please reapply in two years…_

_Theodosia, smiling at him across the town square, arm in arm with the husband she detested… Aaron we can’t do this… Aaron I love you…_

_His parents, eyes wide with fear as a vampire methodically ripped open their door… make us proud, Aaron… Run baby, run and don’t look back…_

And he had tried, oh how he had tried. Wanting meant waiting, but eventually - he’d graduated early, he had followed his parents legacy, and he had married the woman he loved. But this, now?

_Alexander, stepping closer, the candlelight glinting off his teeth… you’re a vampire… lightning, it felt like lightning…_

There were things he could not have. Things he _should_ not have. Things he shouldn’t even be thinking of wanting. Aaron shuffled the papers in front of him, trying to concentrate as the last hours of the workday crept by. At half past the hour he stood, leaving the unread papers on his desk for tomorrow, and slipped out of the law office. 

In Alexander’s office next door the light was still shining. He was working late again, leaving his poor wife alone with the children. Aaron, at least, would go home to to his Theodosias and enjoy the rest of his night.

Perhaps he would have a cup of wine, Aaron thought as he walked. He glanced back over towards the offices. Would Alexander drink tonight? Either wine or... or...

No. He would go home to his wife and leave these unseemly desires where they belonged - put away and unacknowledged. 

Instead he found himself at Alexander’s door moments later.

“Mr Burr, sir!” Alexander always had a grin for him. Forever unbothered by the lateness of the hour, he welcomed Aaron in. “Can I offered you something to drink?”

Aaron smiled. “That would be nice.”

Alexander handed him a glass of whiskey, chattering happily about the case he was working on. His hair was falling out of its tie, and with an impatient hand Alexander jerked it free as he prattled.

Aaron swallowed hard. He drank.

“What business brings you here today, Aaron Burr, sir?” Alexander asked him, eyes flashing in the dim light. They were dark as onyx, and caught the light whenever he turned his head.

“No business,” Aaron said. “Can one friend not call upon another after the workday is over?”

“It’s not often vampire hunters end up friends with their quarry,” Alexander observed. “At least, you would think.”

Aaron snorted. The whiskey was very good, and he poured himself another glass. “How many vampire hunters do you know?”

Alexander grinned. “Right now? Just one.”

That made him frown. “Wait. How many _vampires_ do you know? How many do _I_ know?” The Schuylers were all vampires, Alexander had told him. An ancient family, very revered…

Alexander leaned forward, close enough that Aaron could feel breath on his skin. “Guess.” 

Well. That feeling wasn’t something he was expecting. _Focus, Aaron._ He took a large gulp of the whiskey. 

“You said John Laurens is human,” he started carefully.

“Mmmhmmm,” Alexander nodded encouragingly.

“And that you used to…” even now it was hard to get the words out, “ _feed_ off of him.” _And that he liked it_ , Aaron’s brain supplied. Again, he suppressed the memory of teeth sinking into his neck, the sensations that had jolted through his body under Hamilton’s hands.

Alexander frowned. “John is… very special to me.”

Aaron remembered the talk that went on about those two. Oh yes, he remembered it well. “You were lovers, too.”

Alexander nodded, short and quick. “Yes.”

“And now?”

“He is still, regrettably, in South Carolina.” Alexander frowned. “And Eliza, anyway… she is not easily convinced to share.”

There was a pause. Alexander drank deeply from his cup, and when Aaron had done the same he poured them more. It was very good whiskey. 

“Mulligan?” Aaron prompted next, in the silence.

“Human. Human as they come. He figured it out before you did though. Which is surprising, considering you’re a vampire hunter.”

Aaron didn’t have a reply to that. He didn’t know how to say _It’s my legacy_ without sounding like a fool. Both his parents had been vampire hunters, and whittling stakes at night reminded him of them. It was its own sort of legacy.

He drank, just to give himself something to do. The room was starting to swim. “Lafayette?”

Alexander grinned. “Oh, he’s one of us. Another old family.”

“Oh. Right.” He wasn’t sure what to say to that. He flashed back quickly to every interaction with the man, wondering if there was anything to make it clear-

“I can almost hear you thinking,” Alexander sighed. “Lafayette’s a good man. He doesn’t like vampire hunters is all.” He moved closer. “That’s how he ended up an orphan, you know. Vampire hunter during the Seven Years War. He only survived because he wasn’t at home.”

“Myself as well,” Burr said quietly. “The other way. Vampires killed my parents when I was six.” He’d never said those words to anyone who wasn’t immediate family.

“And you survived?”

Aaron wet his lips with a tongue that felt like sandpaper. “They barricaded the front door. And told me to run.” It hurt to remember, even after so many years. One last look at his parents, terrified but resolute as they gave him time to get away. “I ran and ran until I got to town. I never saw them again. The bodies weren’t fit to be seen.”

“Christ, Burr,” Alexander said, resting a warm hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “I-”

Aaron brushed away the concern. Pity, even from a place of understanding, was still intolerable. “It would be worse for Lafayette I think,” he said. “I have the grace of knowing they wait for me in heaven.”

“And Lafayette’s parents do not?”

“Alexander.” He didn’t seem to be joking. “They don’t have souls. The bible is very clear on that. You must be human to have a soul.”

“I believe I have a soul,” Alexander said softly. “I didn’t chose to be this way. I wasn’t even conscious when I was bitten. My son didn’t ask to be born this way, neither did my wife."

Aaron shifted, almost imperceptibly, away. “Madison?”

“What?”

“James Madison. Is he human? Or one of you?”

A frown. “You know, I never found out either way.”

“Stick him in front of a mirror,” Aaron said, before he could stop himself. “Give someone else the heart attack.” There was a pause, and both burst out laughing.

“Listen to his heart,” Alexander suggested, the laughter in his eyes fading away. “If it doesn’t beat….”

“Your heart really doesn’t beat?” Aaron had never been close enough to a vampire to tell.

Alexander shook his head. “No blood, no heartbeat. Look, come here.”

Aaron allowed himself to be drawn in, until he had an ear pressed against Alex’s chest. Though his ribcage rose and fell with every breath, it was silent. No heartbeat. 

Alex rubbed his cheek against the top of Aaron’s head; it was an oddly comforting gesture. “You smell nice,” he mumbled. “You know, I’ve never met a vampire hunter before. At least, one that wasn’t interested in turning me to dust.”

“I haven’t ruled that out,” Aaron shot back dryly, and Alexander giggled again. The whiskey was getting to both of them. “You are the first vampire with which I’ve made acquaintance as well.” 

Alexander snorted quietly, “Just the only one you were aware of, I think.” He hesitated, “I wanted to ask you… about that night….”

“We shouldn’t talk about that night,” Aaron had enough mind left to say. Talking about it made it real. And here, pressed against Alexander’s chest, he didn’t want it to be real. Didn’t want anything to be real.

After a moment Alexander shifted, lowered his head enough to reach the shell of Aaron’s ear. “We don’t have to _talk_.”

Aaron shivered. “Yes.”

This was what he wanted. He hadn’t come to drink whiskey, or to ask questions. He’d come to chase lightning.

“Tell me if you want to stop,” Alexander ordered, and Aaron felt teeth gently pierce his shoulder.

It different than the first time. Before, the feelings that coursed through his body were overwhelming. This time Alex’s teeth sunk into his shoulder slowly, carefully. Little pinpricks of light rather than an entire bolt. He wasn’t drinking blood, just biting and holding Aaron there on the knife’s edge of knowing that he _could_. The feeling sent him gasping, trembling and tensing up but not quite falling into a full on shudder.

Alex pulled off for just a moment, licking his lips and searching Burr’s face. Whatever he saw in Aaron’s slack features made him grin. He leaned in and bit Burr again. And again, and again. Never taking blood, just small, tiny bites as he slowly took Aaron Burr apart.

His skin was overheated. His blood felt like it was boiling in his veins. Everything straining towards something, towards _Alexander_ , towards the feeling of _sogoodnotenough_ that demanded more. “Do something,” he gasped out. “I need-” what? 

_More._

Alexander pulled off with a grin. “Why Aaron, I was only waiting for you to ask.”

And this time, when he bit down, he _sucked_. The shudder ripped through Aaron before he could do anything else, lights dancing before his eyes and a cry of “Alexander!” ripping out of him.

Alexander held him through it, letting Aaron slump against him and try to catch his breath. “Burr, are you alright? I’ve never done it like that before, was it too much, I don’t think-”

Aaron just had enough strength left in him to reach out and cover Alex’s mouth with his hand. _Shut up_. Boneless and strangely sated, he just wanted to sleep for a year. Surely Alexander could let him have that. A year sleeping on the couch in his office in exchange for his blood, yes, that seemed reasonable.

“I will send a message to your wife, that you’re working through the night,” Alexander murmured. And before Burr he could work up some guilt over his beloved Theodosia, Alexander leaned forward and pressed their lips together. Not a bite, a kiss, and one filled with meaning.

“Sleep well, Aaron Burr,” Alexander murmured.

They didn’t talk about it. 

They spent the next week dancing around each other in court, and Aaron avoiding his doorstep at night. When Alexander came to call he kept the subject matter to what is important - law, the constitution, politics. He went home and kissed his wife, enjoying how right it felt to be in her arms. Theodosia was everything; he fought for this, fought for them, and he loved her with every bit of his heart. There wasn’t _room_ for anything more.

But the fragile peace did not last long. 

“I’m sick,” Theodosia told him, and Aaron found a whole new kind of wanting. The kind that made him tremble with fear, ache for any other words to spill out of his beloved wife’s lips. He held her close and kissed her hair, and cried when she whispered “I think I’m going to die” into the fabric of his shirt. Stayed with her until she fell asleep, then slipped out of the house.

There was only one place he could go, one place he knew to make the pain go away for even an hour. Alexander’s.

“I needed to see you,” he said the second Alexander opened the door. In truth he was a mess - his necktie undone, tears still staining his cheeks. _Oh Theodosia..._

Alexander, thankfully only opened the door wider. “Burr. Is everything alright?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Aaron started to pace, noting that Eliza and their three children must already be in bed. They were alone on the main floor of the house. “Bite me,” he said suddenly.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Alexander turned his back. “Tell me what’s wrong, Aaron.”

“Make me forget,” he ordered, starting to tremble. “Take my blood, take it all, I don’t care anymore-” the words cut off as Alexander turned to face him. His fangs had descended, razor sharp, and Aaron trembled. 

When Alexander laid a hand on his neck it was all too easy for Aaron to close his eyes and let himself be led across the room, tilting his head back to offer better access.

Only there was no bite, no kiss, just Aaron being pushed gently onto the couch. “Tell me what’s wrong,” Alexander said, letting his fingers brush gently over the sensitive skin of Aaron’s neck.

“Theo...Theodosia. She’s-” Suddenly he was angry. What right did Alexander have, questioning him? “My wife is dying, Alexander. My wife is dying and I want to forget. If you cannot help me I will go somewhere else.” There were plenty of bars open, after all.

“Burr,” Alexander’s voice is gentle. “Is that really what you want? To forget?”

“I don’t want to live without her, but I will settle for not having _think_ about it.”

Alexander nodded and disappeared. When he returned it was with Eliza.

“Mrs Hamilton.” Aaron tried to rise, and wipe the worst of the tears off his face - when had he started crying again? But she just pushed him gently back down.

“I’ve been informed you are involved with my husband, Mr Burr,” she said slowly.

Were they going to talk about this _now_? “Not- not like you might imagine,” he stuttered out, mind flashing guiltily back to the one brief kiss. “Just of a, ah-”

“Vampiric nature?” Alexander supplied helpfully.

He flushed. “Yes.”

Eliza seemed unbothered. She stepped closer, and it was only then that Aaron realized her fangs were also on display. “Mr Burr, have you ever been bitten by two of our kind? At the same time?”

“You said you wanted to forget,” Alexander, behind her, explained. “It seemed like a good idea.”

 _Oh god_. His brain nearly short circuited at the idea. That was the idea, yes. To forget. Before he could think more on the subject he nodded.

“Hard and fast,” Alexander said to his wife, before brushing Aaron’s head to the side and biting him.

Lightning, pure lighting. Aaron cried out at the feeling as Alexander's fangs sank easily into the soft skin of his neck. His body was shuddering, his mind was racing as adrenaline and endorphins raced their way through his bloodstream.

And then a second bolt of lightning hit as Eliza bit into the other side of his neck. Every muscle in his body flashed taunt, head thrown back, keening at the feeling of his mind finally, blissfully, _violently_ wiped blank.

He didn't know how long it went on. A second. A year. Forever. Stretched between two worlds, lightning thundering through him, lost in an abyss of feeling. At some point Alexander pulled off, pressing kisses to the underside of his neck and lapping at the blood that still leaked from the wound.

Eliza let him go with one last suck of blood, letting him fall gently into a chair. Aaron kept his eyes closed, enjoying the oblivion while it lasted. Distantly he heard Eliza say, "Must you be so messy, Alexander? You don't need to leave him bleeding."

"He hardly minds," Alexander shot back, but Aaron felt a linen being pressed on the punctures. "Look, it's stopping already."

"Without your tongue on it, it stops faster," Eliza grumbled, not unkindly, and he heard her move away. "What are we going to do about his wife?"

"Nothing to do," Alexander said softly. There was a hand on his scalp then, thumb brushing back and forth on the skin as though there was hair there to pet. "If he comes to us for absolution, we give him what he wants."

"And if he wants more than just biting?" Eliza's voice trailed as she left.

Alexander didn't respond right away. But just as Aaron was swimming his way into full unconsciousness he heard Alexander say, "We give it to him. Anything he wants."

And then the world was black and warm and peaceful, and Aaron slept.


	2. Absolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron Burr has to make a choice.  
> No, not the one you're thinking of

When he awoke it was to sunshine streaming through the window and the arm of the chair he was in poking into his shoulder. Aaron shifted, pulled himself up, and only then did he feel the twinges of pain on both sides of his neck and remembered the events of the night before.

_Oh god._ He had- Alexander said- Eliza- he turned, away from the sunlight, and there she was with a cup of tea for him. Eliza, Hamilton's wife, a vampire of a very highly esteemed family.

She really didn't look all that terrifying. She was still petite, with a round face and kind eyes. Without fangs poking out of her mouth, she looked the very picture of a perfect wife. She held out the tea. "Mr Burr. I hope you slept well?"

"I-" He had, actually. Had slept better than he could remember recently. "I did, thank you. And thank you to your husband, he is very kind." It wouldn't hurt to remind her that he knew the way of things - that Alexander was her husband, hers to claim and hers to enjoy. Not that there was even a question of anything else.

She smiled, soft and reserved. "He is. Truly a wonder. You know Angelica tried to bite him for me?"

"What?" He almost dropped the tea.

"When I said I was worried about my upcoming marriage. I loved him, you see, but I was worried. He didn't know what we were."

"But Alexander said he was a child when he was changed-"

"He was." Her smiled widened into a laugh. "Angelica had a bit of a shock when she tried to take a bite of him. So we are made for each other, you see, truly."

That, he knew. He really, really knew. "I see. Mrs Hamilton, I should-"

She held up a hand. "A moment. Did my Alexander tell you about his arrangement with John Laurens?"

Aaron fell back into the chair hard enough to leave a bruise. "He said he would feed off Laurens." _And the rumours said-_ She must be joking. Pulling some kind of sick stunt to mock him. He must still be dreaming, fast asleep on the chair and wishing for things that couldn't be true. "The word around camp," he forced the words out, "was that they were lovers."

"They were." The words hit like another bolt of lightning. Or perhaps the rain after the storm, a torrential downpour of feeling and possibilities.

Eliza paid him no heed. "And they will be again, I'm sure, when John returns from his work in the South Carolina senate. You must understand, Mr Burr. Alexander is _my_ husband. I have no intention of sharing that title with anyone, and will press my claim as hard as I must. But what Alexander chooses to amuse himself with, out of sight and out of our bed? Does not concern me." She had the nerve to pat him on the head, as if he was a small child. Or a dog. "I've seen the way he looks at you, Aaron. Something to think about. I will leave you to your tea."

Needless to say, his tea got cold long before Aaron left the Hamiltons' residence.

"Aaron?" Theodosia's voice called out as he opened the front door. "Not at work today?"

_She looks worse_. No, that was impossible. He just knew what to look for now. A paleness to her skin, a tightness around her eyes that spoke of a pain she would never willingly voice. Aaron had always admired her strength. 

He’d thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world when they’d met, and the bravest. The wife of a British officer, secretly aiding the rebellion? And when he’d come upon her in the library, reading a thick book on philosophy, he’d been even more impressed. She’d snapped it shut in front of his nose that night, laughing in the firelight. Such a thrilling thing, even just to watch her laugh. He’d felt like a schoolboy, pushing his luck and praying he could stay.

_If I could make her laugh every day, my life would be one worth living,_ he’d thought, settling into bed that night. It made no matter that she was married, or a decade older than him, or that she already had five children to care for. He wanted to see her smile, see her eyes light up when he impressed her with some witty phrase. To kiss her and taste the poetry on her lips.

There was no laughter now, no poetry. Aaron came home to sullen silences and lips pursed against the onslaught of pain.

“Tell me how to fix it,” he’d pleaded when she finally told him she was dying. “Whatever you want.”

But there was nothing that could stop time, enclose them in a little bubble and keep death away.

The realization of everything he had been doing hit Aaron like a cannonball. What had he been _thinking_? Dallying with Hamilton, indulging in a daydream of what could never been, willingly losing his mind while he wife sickened at home. "I decided I needed to stay home for once. Make up for too many nights away."

She smiled. "I'm glad. And your daughter will be too. She's upstairs with her Aristotle book."

"Theodosia..." He didn't know what to say to his wife. _I'm sorry_ didn't quite cover it. _I wanted to be better for you. I don't want you to go._ Then a burst of anger. _I want things to be as they were. When you smiled and ran to the door when I came home, eager to try out some new theory you’d read._ Theodosia didn’t read much anymore, not even to their daughter. Books were a waste of the precious little energy she had.

She took his hand and sighed. "You love me. I know. I love you too, now go up at see your daughter."

Theo Jr was happy to see him at least, and he passed a happy hour talking philosophy with her. His daughter was always a wonder, so quick to analyse a text or challenge his own thoughts. He shouldn’t have been surprised, considering her mother’s natural wit.

They ate dinner as a family, and he had the pleasure of tucking his daughter into bed. But on the way back to his room Aaron saw his wife on her knees, bent over a handkerchief and coughing.

“Love?” He rushed to her side, let her sag against his body as the coughing abated.

“I’m fine,” his wife said as soon as the coughing had abated enough to speak. Aaron frowned at the roughness of her voice, the amount of willpower she was using to keep it even.

“Does it hurt?” He touched the handkerchief and saw that it was splattered with blood.

Theodosia sighed. “Yes, Aaron, it hurts. There’s nothing to be done.”

He helped her to bed, helped her undress and then held her as close as he dared.

_I don’t want you to die_ , he thought. _I don’t want you to be in pain, fading away in front of me and our daughter._

There had to be a way out. He had fought so hard, for so long, to lose this now. It was unthinkable. 

“I missed you,” his wife mumbled into the pillow. 

Aaron kissed her bare shoulder. “I missed you too.”

“Then why must you spend so much time at the office?” She twisted around, fingers ghosting over his bicep, his shoulder, his neck.

And stopping, suddenly, as her fingers brushed over the bite mark there. “Aaron? Are you injured?”

“Nothing to worry about,” he said quickly, bringing her fingertips up to his mouth for a kiss and praying she was unwell enough to forget about it.

“Aaron.” She pulled her hand away impatiently, returning it to the wound on his neck. And then she checked the other side. “Here too… and some older marks… Aaron, were you _bitten_?” She was not afraid. Wary, but listening to him.

“It’s not what you think,” He protested, but she was already pulling away from him, sitting up and tensing until the pain in her abdomen ceased. “It was… a deal of sorts. Nothing more, and freely agreed to.”

“A deal with a vampire?”

“I was wrong,” he said suddenly. “I was wrong, my love, in so very much.” Alexander was not the creature of darkness he should have been. Eliza, Lafayette, and Angelica, people he knew and cared for, were not soulless vessels of evil. 

She turned to assess him, her eyes sharp and uncompromising. “Who?”

“What?”

“Who have you allowed to do this to you?” He looked down, away, but Theodosia’s eyes were not something that could be dodged.

“Alexander. Hamilton.” He couldn’t look at her. He would not. He would leave, for she would kick him out of the house for daring to betray her in this manner - but no, because she was sick and required someone to care for her. He would care for her, he would love her, but she would never forgive-

“Aaron.” His name was a soft exhalation. “Look at me.”

He did.

The first thing he saw was that she was smiling. _What?_ One hand reached out gently to brush over his cheek. “Aaron. My love. Tell me what you’re thinking?”

How did she still have the power to turn him into a flustered teenager? “That I have done something so sinful my good wife can not bare to love me anymore.” Having feelings for a man. A _vampire_. While _married_.

“Sinful like having an affair while my husband was away at war?”

He gaped. “You were a woman needing comfort, married to a man you did not love-”

“I loved him. Aaron, I did love him.” He stared at her, dumbfounded. She sighed. “Life is far more complex than your bible believes. And while I believe there are some who can live life by its rules and find happiness… the majority of the world cannot.”

“Theodosia…” He didn’t know what to say. Was she approving of… “I have never loved anyone they way I love you,” he said, because that much was true.

She smiled softly, fingers tracing the panes of his face. “I would not take from you what comfort you can find in these coming days. And,” she soldiered on, “what comfort you must find after I am gone.”

“No,” Aaron said. “ _No_. I can’t-” let it happen that way. Lose you and move on. 

He felt a stab of jealousy then, for Alexander and his wife. Alexander Hamilton, the man with nothing to lose. Vampires didn’t get sick- in fact, Alexander’s illness had healed when he was bitten.

Alexander’s illness had healed when he was bitten.

At the cost of his soul.

Aaron wet his lips. “There is something that can be done to save you,” he said slowly. “But the cost-”

“Is easily paid, for even another hour with my husband and daughter,” Theodosia cut him off. “Tell me.”

It was funny how, when you got down to it, life was full of simple choices. Act or wait. Navigate or fix. Live or die.

With Theodosia at his side, her hand tightly grasping his, Aaron Burr chose.


	3. Temperance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The transformation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief reminder - in this 'verse, vampires do age, grow old, and will eventually die of old age. Theodosia and Aaron won't have that problem.   
> (They can also die, as was established, by wood, silver or holy water to the heart. They are immune to disease and sunlight doesn't bother them. They don't sleep though.)

The next day it rained. Not just rain, but a torrential downpour that soaked Burr to the skin as he walked across town to the Hamilton’s doorstep. 

“Mr Burr, sir. You’re soaked! Come in.”

“I don’t exactly need to be invited in,” Burr pointed out, trying not to drip all over Alexander’s floor.

“No.” Alexander passed him a rag to dry with. “But it is polite, and it is important to remember one’s manners. What can I do for you, Burr?”

“Tell me everything you remember about being bitten.”

If it was an insensitive question, Alexander did not react beyond a frown. “Not much. I was unconscious. Burr?”

“Does it hurt?” he asked. “Have you changed someone since? Do you even know how?” Alexander stared at him, uncomprehending.

“You want me to change you? Burr, I don’t think that would be a very good idea for a large number of reasons-”

“Not me,” he waved Alexander off impatiently. “Theodosia. It _healed_ you, Alexander. And she’s dying.” He left the rest out. _I would rather she be undead than gone from our lives together._ “I can’t lose her,” he said, feeling more useless by the second.

Alexander’s face softened. He even managed a rueful little smile. “So the great Aaron Burr finally chooses a side.”

His mouth was dry. “Not in the way you may think. But my wife…”

“Comes first. As does mine. I understand.”

“Yes.”

“And outside of your wife?”

This is where he should say, _There is nothing outside of my wife. She is the one I love, the one I am joined to._ He thought of Theodosia saying _Life is far too complicated_.

Wanting was one thing. Choosing was quite another.

He chose.

“Mr Hamilton?”

“Hm?”

“I would be delighted if you would invite me over while Mrs Hamilton is away. To speak with one another… as gentlemen…” God, he hoped that was obvious enough. “All night long,” he finished lamely.

Alexander’s eyes went bright. “I would be happy to have you.” And then he smirked, well aware of the double entendre. Aaron flushed. “Would this conversation be of a solely vampiric nature?”

Did Alexander intend for him to say it aloud? “No,” he tried. “Gentlemen have many wide-ranging interests.”

“Such as?” Alexander grinned, delighted, as he moved into Aaron’s space. The damn man was teasing him.

Aaron fixed him with a level look, trying to sound like he was in control. He was not. His legs were barely holding him up, backed up against the wall by Hamilton in a bizarre reversal of the night he had found out the man was a vampire. “Reading Catullus, for example.”

Now it was Alexander’s turn to flush at the mention of such an inappropriate poem. “It is masterpiece,” he tossed back, quick on his feet. “But difficult to translate. I may require a demonstration.” 

“That can be arranged.”

And then Alexander said, “Kiss me, Burr, I’ve been waiting so long-”

Aaron did. Clumsily, shivering as his lips brushed the scratch of Alexander’s beard. It was very different from any of the women he had kissed before, but Aaron wasn’t sure if that was because he was kissing a man or because he was kissing _Alexander._ Alexander, who took charge of the kiss immediately, running his tongue along Burr’s bottom lip and drawing a groan from him. It felt-

It felt like lightning. 

They kissed against the wall for long moments, exploring one another. And then Alexander pulled back, murmuring that they should take things to the bedroom. Aaron nodded mutely, following.

It was everything and nothing like he had suspected, in the end. Alexander had kept his fangs retracted, instead choosing to take Aaron apart in every conceivable human way. It was rough and gentle all in one, with little bursts of unexpected pleasure and the unmistakable drag of Alex’s lips kissing over every inch of his body.

Aaron was content to lay tangled with him after, boneless and sated, but Alexander clearly had other ideas. He propped his head up on Aaron’s chest and said, “Have Eliza do the changing for your wife.”

Aaron groaned out something that might have been a _What?_ as he tightened the arms wrapped around Alexander. _Sleep_. He didn’t want to do anything but pass out with his arms wrapped around his companion.

Alexander chattered away. “Eliza has changed people before, not _many_ mind you, but the Schuylers know far more about vampire lore than I do. Even after borrowing your books. They have _tradition_ , and experience, and-” he hesitated, drawing Aaron’s eye. “If there was any way to spare your wife pain, Eliza would know it.”

 

“There will be pain,” Eliza said flatly when Aaron approached her. “But she is already in pain. And it will not last for long.”

“When can we do it?” 

“Tomorrow. Everyone knows she is ill, yes?” Aaron nodded. “Good. Then her recovery will raise no eyebrows. Make arrangements for your daughter and bring Theodosia here.”

Aaron nodded. He told Theodosia the plan, kissed her and tried not to wonder how it would feel to do so when she was no longer human.

Theo was dropped off with a neighbour. Aaron and Theodosia made their way to the Hamilton’s house, strolling arm in arm. It would not do to be stopped tonight so Aaron forced himself to stay as casual as possible, even when he wanted to scream from the anxiety gnawing at his gut.

Alexander was the one to open the door. “Mr Burr, Sir, and Mrs Burr. Please come in. Eliza is waiting for you in the drawing room.” There was a sheet laid down on the floor, and Eliza stood at the ready.

“How does this work?” Theodosia asked her boldly. She stood straight in the flickering candlelight of the room, proud and unafraid. 

Eliza’s voice was a rasp. “I drink your blood. You drink mine. You will go into convulsions as the change happens, but you will not remember it after. When you awake, you will be one of us.”

“And this is what you want?” Aaron prompted, one last time. “You’re sure?”

Theodosia nodded. “For our daughter. For you.” For the future they would have together - a future which now, inexplicably, included the Hamiltons.

Eliza guided Theodosia to lay back on the sheet. “Your neck?” she asked primly.

Theodosia tilted her head back, but hesitated. “Will it hurt?” she asked. Not frightened, as Aaron had been, but simply wanting to know.

“A little,” Aaron told her. “But it will feel like you’re chasing lightning through the sky.”

His wife nodded and tilted her head back. Aaron saw Eliza lean forward, fangs extended, and sink her teeth into Theodosia’s neck.

It was strange, watching them partake in something he’d experienced but never seen. Theodosia shuddered, crying out, but Eliza held her firm. When she released his wife Theodosia slumped to the ground, blinking furiously and flushed from head to toe.

Aaron knew the feeling. “It’s okay. The intensity passes. Can you sit up?”

“I can do whatever is necessary,” Theodosia hissed. She placed both palms on the floor and pushed herself up, grunting from the effort and the pain that ran through her body at such a motion.

“Give me a minute,” Eliza said. She too was breathing heavily. As Aaron watched her tongue poked out to clean away a spot of blood on the side of her mouth. “And then you will drink from me. It’s still your blood, only passed through the body of the undead.”

They waited for several tense minutes. Aaron knelt by his wife. Alex resting his hands on Aaron’s shoulders, watching his own wife.

Finally, Eliza said, “It’s time.”

Then, with a knife handed to her by her husband, she slashed her wrist and held it to Theodosia’s mouth. More viscous than human blood, it shone there without dripping to the ground. Alexander had said once, _We don’t bleed like you do_.

Theodosia touched the blood with a probing tongue. “Oh,” she said. “That tastes-”

“I know,” Eliza told her. Theodosia tipped her head back, latching onto Eliza’s wrist as she drank deep. The blood looked black - whether that was vampirism or the candlelight Aaron didn’t know. 

As she sucked up the blood Theodosia began to shudder. A moment later Eliza’s hand was at the back of her head, forcing her mouth to stay on the wound. “As much as you can,” she murmured. “Keep going.”

It wasn’t enough. The shuddering increased, turning into full blown convulsions that ripped Theodosia off her arm and onto the ground. There she continued to seize, silently, writhing in pain as the change took over her body.

Alexander turned away, possibly thinking back to his own change. Aaron reached for his wife, but Eliza stepped in front of him.

“Let the change happen. You can do nothing more for her now.”

“How- how long?” he got out.

“Not much longer for the shaking. Then she will sleep.”

Alexander’s thin fingers ghosted down his arm. “She won’t remember any of it, I swear. If there’s pain, she won’t recall.”

“Do you regret it?” Aaron could help but ask. “Do you wish you were human?”

“When this change bought me a life? A chance to rise up and be more than I was? The people I love? No.” Alexander shook his head. “There was never a choice.”

As the minutes ticked by Theodosia stopped thrashing, falling into a deep sleep. It was then the Hamiltons bandaged her wound, tucked a pillow under her head. Aaron just stared, as if by watching his wife he could ensure her wellbeing. Both Hamiltons continued to prompt him to bed - Alexander at one time with raised eyebrows and a suggestive leer - but Aaron waved them off. He would not leave her side. 

It was dawn when Theodosia awoke. Nothing dramatic, just a fluttering of her eyelashes and a weak, “Aaron? Eliza?” When she spoke Aaron could see two fangs glimmering amongst her teeth. The sight brought shame and desire both - he would have to work on that. His wife was a vampire, and he had to love her just the same.

“I’m here.” He was at her side immediately. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. “I feel as though I’ve run miles barefoot in the woods. Like-”

“I know.”

“Oh god, Aaron, _Eliza_ …”

“I know.” Oh, he knew. He really, really knew. “The Hamiltons are something, are they not?”

“You could say that.” She sat up, still shaky, and he moved with her. “What am I supposed to do, knowing that feeling exists in the world?”

“Well.” He kissed her, careful of the teeth, and looked up to where Alexander and Eliza stood in the doorway. “The Hamiltons are fairly open to arrangements, I’ve found.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Behold the wonders of this filthy and extremely Gay poem](http://io9.gizmodo.com/a-latin-poem-so-filthy-it-wasnt-translated-until-the-2-1589504370)
> 
> That's Chasing Lightning! There will be one more short part in this 'verse, unless I lose my head completely and write a big vampire orgy or something (Think of it though... Alex teaching Theodosia how to feed and using Aaron as a lab rat. John Laurens and Laf joining in for a big vampire orgy.)|
> 
> Ok fine, [here](http://thellamaduo.tumblr.com/) is my tumblr come talk metaphorical vampire porn with me

**Author's Note:**

> I would just like to apologize to every single one of the founder fathers of this country that I am not even a citizen of. 
> 
> [Tumblr here](http://www.thellamaduo.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Comments and kudos are, as always, loved.


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